| CSX train K612-21 (Jacksonville/FEC-Chicago Proviso/UP) is about to split the Southward Absolute Signals (SAS) Middle Vandalia. He is on the main and is easing into the Vandalia siding to wait on Q559-25 (Lima-Cincinnati). This is an empty Ethanol train off of FEC. He is coming from Port Everglades, FL, where the terminal there improved from 20 cars a day to a full train every other day *in just one year*. Middle Vandalia is a control point in the middle of the 15,300.foot siding located there. As the name suggests, it is a switch in the middle of the siding at milepost BE 68 of the Toledo Subdivision. It is not a crossover; it is limited to northbound main-to-the-siding moves and southbound siding-to-the-main-moves. The Toledo Subdivision is a single track mainline with numerous sidings plus four stretches of double track: Trenton (all they way south to mp BE 0.9 CT Junction, not far from the Ohio River), Dayton, Sidney, and Lima. The steadily increasing traffic volume that CSX is experiencing this year plus increasingly longer train lengths (in excess of 9,000 feet) render many of the sidings ineffectual. Long sidings such as Piqua (11,700 feet) and Vandalia are particularly useful in helping the dispatcher keep the railroad fluid. This location is happily located in the Taylorsville MetroPark, which is part of the Five Rivers Metro Park system in the Greater Dayton Ohio area. The park provides a legal, safe place to just park it and let the trains come to you. As it happens, there are other spots that I prefer to visit, but Middle Vandalia is near the top of the "I am going to be near there anyways" List. |